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Life in the clouds

26 August 2000

By Joanna Marchant

BACTERIA live and grow in clouds, where they may trigger rainfall and alter
climate. The discovery was made by a team of Austrian researchers, in clouds
over the Alps.

“We were astonished to find actively growing bacteria,” says Birgitt Sattler
of the University of Innsbruck. She says that although bacteria are known to be
blown high into the atmosphere and dispersed around the Earth, no one knew if
they could actually grow and divide in clouds. “The relatively clean and cold
atmosphere of high altitudes was not regarded as a suitable place for bacterial
growth.”